ñzçzçzç good morning. welcome to wusa9. this special edition starting a half-hour early. no, you haven't overslept. i'm monday, december 9, 2013. you may get a few more winks. >> plenty of precipitation but what kind has fallen in your neighborhood. you have some stuff. >> it's a good morning not to take chances. >> that's a positive spin. give us a positive spin. >> a lot of spinning going on

in spots, neighborhoods especially. the main roads from my experience, 270 was great. good job, state highway. but the neighborhoods are mess. we still have pockets of freezing rain north and west of d.c. that's the problem this morning with the winter storm warning in effect for the metro and areas west of 95 till 10:00 a.m. that's why a red alert day. when we have ice, that's a no brainer. you want to take it easy. you want to look for the steadier showers and rain. 35 by 9:00. by lunch time leftover showers. low 40s with perhaps a peek or two of sun. still problems. here's the winter storm warning i was telling you about. all the counties in white. the winter weather advisory is south of us in the purple color, they'll expire at 7:00 a.m. already many areas 33, 34. not nearly as bad as it is north and west. this is ice on top of would you believe 7, 8 inches of snow in

spots from eastern west virginia through areas in frederick and caroll counties, even 5-inch plus totals in northern loudoun out toward winchester, charles town. unbelievable the way it showed yesterday in the afternoon for just a few hours. it really piled up. freezing rain being the main culprit this morning. watching this conveyor belt of moisture coming in still from alabama and georgia. still raining in eastern kentucky. this will take a while to work its way through us. that's why i think through 10:00, 11:00 well have rain showers we'll be dealing w. all the salmon color, this is the wintry mix, the freezing rain. it is broken up. see how we have breaks here. up north frederick, westminster, much of upper montgomery county now, howard county back through leesburg, that route 15 ride coming into fauquier county. power outages in bealeton. a friend of mine says they have a generator, they're the only house with christmas lights on

right now. la plata north to brandies diss wine looking at rain and -- brandywine looking at rain and freezing rain. a busy morning. temperatures critical. mike mentioned this earlier. 34 at national. but look at all the 32s on the board. north and west we've got 30 in fairfax. 30 in fill month. 30 in -- philomount. 30 in lovettsville. as hopping as it's 3 -- as long as it's 32 or west, that's where we have the threat of freezing weather. winchester is only 30 right now. we had all sorts of problems. the accidents were mounting, piling up all over the place yesterday. 34 right now. feeling like 28 with a north, northwesterly wind at 7. that barometer is falling. looking at the futurecast, the pink again, the mixed bag, the freezing rain. here we are stopping at 6:00

a.m. showers south and east. we'll take you toward 9:00. looks like most of the moisture will be east of us by 9:00. cloudy skies with showers in the mountains and then trying to get into a little bit of clearing in spots for the afternoon. but still south and east of us at noon, southern maryland, lower eastern shore, northern neck, some lingering showers down there. showing you the forecast. it does get better but there's another system tomorrow. 42 today. the early freezing rain and rain showers, a peek of sun in the afternoon. tonight 33 in town but upper 20s north and west. we may have a few spots. tomorrow a yellow alert. a system may bring rain or snow. with temperatures in the mid- 30s, if we get any consume layings i think it will be mainly grassy surfaces, an inch or so i'm thinking right now. with the snow north and west, maybe anism or two up there. on wednesday sunny and cold. by thursday now we're talking a real cold day. breezy, too. 31 degrees. wow, it's going to be a frigid

thursday. not as cold friday, 39. some showers later saturday and snow showers returning sunday, back in the upper 30s. hello december. where have you been? you're here now. monika samtani, good morning. howard, we were talking off air about the fact that we're really glad that this all came in yesterday, although we did have tons of accidents and incidents all day yesterday. not as many as if it were a normal rush hour day and work day. so thankfully we didn't have that to deal with. the worst of it seems to be over at least for this morning but what i noticed and howard said as well, you have your neighborhood streets to worry about. most of the major thoroughfares look good. my ride in on river road looks good as well. like i said earlier, this is a morning not to take chances. i had to dodge a lot of tree limbs as well in my neighborhood that are weighted down by the ice and, yes, there are trees down all over town. i have a few examples of

closures. poolesville closed at woulden avenue in -- wooten -- wootton avenue. there is a crash. an overturned tractor-trailer, i was on the phone with virginia state police this morning, it's on the outer loop southbound 495 at route 123 in tysons corner. right now you've got crews on the scene. i believe the right and then the left side of the roadway get by. you want to be very, very slow through that area. you have to zig-zag your way through the accident activity. again, an overturned tractor- trailer. what they're saying as far as we know that there are minor injuries. hopefully they'll be able to upright it and move it shorter. meantime outer loop 123 southbound 495. at about 8:30 last night, there was a truck on fire southbound on 270 at father hurley boulevard. believe it or not they are still working on it. of course the fire is out but

it was so big, it basically burned down the tires and offload the truck as well. let's take a live look outside and first show you what it looks like if you're planning to head here on the inbound side of i-66. you have the wet road conditions. no volume at all to worry about this morning. we'll take a look at our next live picture and this time out over to mdot i believe on the southbound side of i-275 at father hurley. this is where we had that truck fire activity. it looks like only flares left in the roadway. i'll check on that but as you come in from frederick right now, light volume. be especially careful as we always say on bridges, ramps, overpasses and of course your neighborhood streets. back to you. >> thank you, monika. of course you'll see all through the morning the closings and delays at the bottom of your screen. all federal agencies are on a two-hour delay. workers have the option of unscheduled leave or telework. >> erica grow is in poolesville. i think she's joining us on the

phone. what do you know so far? >> reporter: well, we are just making the turn on to route 107 in poolesville, mike. i just saw a deer. we're looking at mostly wet roadways on the major roads. as monika mentioned, river road which is the the main thoroughfare we took to get to our current location is looking pretty good. on the side street, some of the roads have a speed limit of 40 miles per hour but there's no way you're going 40 on this. we have plenty of ice still on the roadways. just a thin coating there. and we're taking it very slow going about 25 miles per hour currently to make sure we don't have any skids or any slides. another thing we've seen plenty of is down tree branches. no actually trees on the the roadways as we've seen but plenty of tree branches covering the entire lane so that we have to slowly move

into the other opposite lane of direction to make sure that we get around that and i just want to make sure that everyone knows as you're heading out the door, you cannot go even the speed limit as you're heading out this morning because it's not only the icy conditions that you have to watch out for but there's also those downed tree branches and right now it is raining lightly here in poolesville. so that's going to add an additional icy accumulation to some spots. we've seen lots of trees completely coated in a thin sheet of ice and that has led to some of those trees hanging lower than normal. so our live vehicle has been brushing the top of the tree branches that are hanging low. plenty to see out here in poolesville. hopefully we'll be able to bring you the live pictures within the next 30 minutes or so. back to you. >> that's erica grow on the road in poolesville, maryland. right now we want to turn our attention to virginia.

i think virginia is where we thought we would see the most impact of this. peggy fox is there. >> live in annandale. >> are you with us on the phone or via live camera? >> reporter: i'm right here. this is route 236 little river turnpike in annandale. and we came here because we heard word that there's a transformer blown. take a look at this. you can actually see some trees on fire in the woods right there. this is at the intersection of little river turnpike and pine crest vista. and a few minutes ago there was a fire truck here kind of monitoring the situation. everything looks dark back there in the woods. i'm not sure if there are homes back that way and if the lights went out but i have seen patches of complete darkness on my way over here from the mclean area. on the way outside, i almost slipped. very, very slick conditions. when you hit your steps, when you hit the driveway this morning, please be careful.

use extra caution because it's all ice out here, folks. take a look at this. this is what you'll find on the street, on your sidewalks. look how thick that is. on your car, it took me a while to scrape the ice off my windshield. quite a while. i had to bang at it to get it to go. look at the trees. while very, very beautiful, a coating of ice up there, you know, this is what we'll be seeing this morning are branches coming down. as i was driving over here, i saw in the road a branch. i think everyone really needs to be cautious out there driving around. if you don't have to get out, i would say don't but if you do, take it very, very carefully. back to you. >> very good advice. once you scrape off your car window, coming down the steps, even the railing was a sheet of ice. >> it's different where you

are. in gaithersburg where i live, it was just wet but the roads were fine. northern virginia a much different story. >> i encountered that tree on 16th street. i got farther than the blockages. it's really at holly street and it was like, where do i go now? some counties have already decided to close schools for the day, most of them in virginia. fairfax county, loudoun county, prince william, culpeper, fauquier and spotsylvania counties are all closed. d.c. public schools, alexandria schools frederick county schools on a two-hour delay. they'll all be listed on wusa9.com. again, federal government employees have a two-hour delay. u.s. leaders will be making their way to south africa for the memorial service of nelson mandela. that's coming up after the break. >> do not miss howard's first

alert forecast. it's coming up next. it's diffe

a good monday morning. still watching these pockets of rain. these areas in pink, even down

to western north carolina still dealing with spotty light freezing rain. you see it from fauquier county. there's warrenton and fairfax. in poolesville erica was talking about the light freezing rain through frederick and caroll county. this is on top of some cases 8 inches of snow that we saw yesterday up north. really impressive snow bands from around -- north of winchester right in through westminster yesterday with the heavy, heavy snow bands. our forecast for today, we're going to start out with some early rain and freezing rain. milder this afternoon so it will be much better. i think even by lunch time here. even a peek or two of sun. highs between 39 and 44. a light wind turning to the southwest at about 5 miles an hour. believe it or not, we may see more snow on tuesday. here's monika with timesaver traffic. good morning, everybody. thank you so much. if you're planning to head around town, what we've been telling you is that there's a lot to be concerned about,

especially your neighborhood streets. there are no problems that i know about, especially on the major thoroughfares in terms of the road conditions but surprisingly, a lot of incidents. now, for example, we've got trees down around town. first of all in poolesville which is blocked off right now between route 107 at wootton avenue. in bethesda it's bradley boulevard at hillmead road. and 16th street between alaska avenue and kal in ia road. -- kalmia road. one of the big concerns we have is the crash on the outer loop of the beltway. virginia state police it's right here at 123 in tysons. an overturned tractor-trailer. you'll have to stay to the right to get around it. already slowing down at southbound 495. i'm going to show you something

cool. if you have our ipad app which is really, really cool with news, weather and now a new traffic feature, you can see especially on any streets take you're going on, even in your neighborhoods what the conditions are with incidents, accidents, construction. you can zoom into the area that you need to know about. right here you can see the outer loop slowing down already coming down toward 123 where we have this accident. you'll tap on the accident icon and they'll give you information about what's going on there, what time it happened and what you should expect. you can see that right here on the outer loop. it's slow to route 123 and that overturned tractor-trailer. i'll have more coming up. back to you guys. the president and the first lady will be joined by former presidents george w. bush, bill clinton and jimmy carter in south africa. >> a total of ten heads of state are expected to honor the

former south african president. but as alfonso van marsh reports, the celebrations of his life have not led up since i died last thursday. >> reporter: south africans are preparing for public services for nelson mandela this week. president obama leaves this morning for johannesburg where he'll tend tomorrow's massive public memorial. former presidents clinton, bush and carter will also be in attendance along with more than 50 heads of states. the head of south africa's national defense force says the country is prepared for the challenge of keeping so many dignitaries safe. 11,000 soldiers have been deployed around the country to protect the mourners. >> we believe that the people will be watching how south africa will perform. >> reporter: this makeshift memorial outside nelson mandela's former home is one of the places where south africans

have been gathering since his death. a weekend of mourning was topped off on sunday with a day of pray. south africans of all races and religious backgrounds sang and prayed for the man credited with uniting a country once bitterly divided. >> nelson mandela is a man who fought for me when i was not born yet. >> reporter: mandela's ex-wife was one of those attending prayer services. >> wusa9 will be covering a week of tributes to knell zahn mandel -- nelson mandela both here and in south africa. >> reporter: i'm derek mcginty along with kevin king. we're checking in at dulles airport headed to johannesburg, south africa to bring you a series of reports leading up to the funeral for nelson mandela. madiba, the heart of south africa, we'll see you there. >> they'll be landing shortly in south africa. watch for their report starting tuesday on wusa9 and at

wusa9.com. we're not the only ones being affected by the heavy weather. we'll show you how the rest of nation is dealing with this dreaded snowy mix. >> before we take you there, we'll show you what's happening right here in our area. the first alert forecast, it is a red alert day. [ male announcer ] give yourself the ultimate holiday gift! now get the fios triple play for just $79.99 a month online, guaranteed for the first year, plus get a $300 holiday bonus with a 2-year agreement. this is the year to get america's fastest, most reliable internet and get an amazing deal that fits your holiday budget. hurry. this offer won't last! visit verizon.com/holidayoffer to give yourself the ultimate technology gift today. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. ard to say no to thehe ultimate technology gift today. opportunity of a lifetime. even if it's five hundred miles away. there's a lot to figure out. new city. new job. new bank.

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howard is here. you have lots to tell us. >> we have the freezing rain still in spots. it's fairly light. overnight montgomery county village, purcelville in virginia, a quarter inch of ice. toward leesburg only a quarter inch. we have lots of areas north and west of d.c. above freezing at national airport. we're hovering right at freezing. 31 in many areas. got to take it really slow the

next few hours. you see the school delays and closings at the bottom of the screen. some of the big counties we don't hear till 5:00 a.m. or so. between 5:00 and 6:00 i think we'll have a lot of decisions coming through so stay tuned for that. our forecast, we're starting out slick. here in d.c. we'll be in the mid-30s by 9:00. still by 9:00 some pockets at 32 or less. generally a much better day once we get to mid- to late morning. upper 30s with the rain showers winding down. this afternoon can't rule out a peek of sunshine. lingering showers this afternoon i think will be south and east ever the district with winds turning to the southwest only about 5 miles an hour or so and highs in the upper 30s to low 40s. but we still have winter weather advisories to our south, southern maryland, down through parts ever the northern neck -- of the northern neck till 7:00 a.m. the winter storm warnings got expanded yesterday afternoon to cover the d.c. metro and areas west of i-95. that's until 10:00 a.m. again the main threat to in some light freezing rain which we've been watching once we had

the burst of snow. yesterday areas up north, some had 8 inches of snow. what happened is we had a heavy band of snow which came out of west virginia just to our north. the snow rates were 1 to 2 inches per hour. it was coming down fast and furiously. folks who got in under that from around moorefield and romney, winchester about 5 to 6 inches. up in frederick and cirl counties we had 8 -- caroll counties, we had 8-inch plus totals. this moisture is coming in from louisiana still just west of new orleans is where the back edge of this line goes. we have rain in charleston. even pittsburgh a little bit of light rain. all these areas in salmon color, those are all that wintry mix that we're talking about, that light freezing rain that you see in many, many areas still. even down to our south we have pockets of freezing rain but most of it now is going to be west of i-95, out toward the blue ridge. you see them scattered about out west as well.

garrett county also included in a winter storm warning for some light freezing rain. that glaze, you're going to need extra time to really scrape the windshield. so here we go with the light freezing rain. spotty up north. to the south we have more rain and in southern maryland we've got some breaks there. all the moisture is tracking in your direction. temperatures, boy, they tell the story. starting to get a little warmer in west virginia. 30 in cumberland. 34 in town. 44 ocean city and a quick look locally. we have temps west. fairfax at 30 still 31 in white oak. it's 31 rockville. 31 in arlington. give it a few hours. maybe if you can go in a little late today, you'll be in much better shape. reld alert day -- red alert day from the earlier freezing rain and rain showers. some snow d.c. north and west but light snow, wet snow, some grassy accumulations i think will happen on the grassy services, minor consume layings. wednesday 36. by thursday breezy, cold, 31.

a little bit better on friday and some late rain saturday leading to some snow showers for sunday. here's monika now timesaver traffic. while the interstates are fine, monika, i had a delay at father hurley coming in. >> that was from 8:30 last night what howard is talking about is that there was a truck on fire at father hurley boulevard in germantown at 8:30 last night and they're still there cleaning up the remains of that truck fire along the left side of the roadway so be aware of that. also by now you may have heard of our premium traffic feature on our ipad app which you can get information even down to your street about real time information with incidents, accidents, construction, delays. for example, what you see behind me is the beltway. i'm going to zoom into a crash on the outer loop of the beltway at route 123. it's an overturned tractor- trailer. look at all the delays already. this red indicating the slow traffic down to the crash at

route 123. if you click on that app there or the icon there, it tells you what's going on, not only the incident but the delays and what it happened, what you should expect. so it's all about information and knowing before you head out the door. now, let's take a look live outside and show you what's going o. if you're planning to head here at 270 at route 109. there is a crash. two tractor-trailers involved. both on the left and right showedder. it's going to slow you down as you head toward hyattstown southbound 270. a couple more incidents in my next report. back to you guys. >> thanks, monika. our area is not the only spot being hard hit by this wintry blast. >> for days temperatures have been plunging across the country making a nightmare when it comes to travel. jessica doyle is in the newsroom with more on that. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to both of you and to everybody at home. snow, sleet, ice, they've caused dangerous road conditions and plenty of headaches for travelers. the wintry weather even interrupted a lot of the sunday matchups in the n.f.l.

allison harmelin has more on the cold snap that's hitting the eastern seaboard. >> tries to bounce it outside. he's buried backwards. >> reporter: the snow didn't keep the philadelphia eagles or the detroit lions off the field but the powerful winter storm that's been moving across the country has been wreaking havoc on roads and airports where thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed. the dangerous mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow blanketed the southwest and then pushed north and east. it's expected to leave up to a foot of snow in pennsylvania where a multicar pileup left one person dead. car crashes in other states took at least six more lives. >> it's almost like a one-two punch. there's cold air to the north, warm air to the south and it creates a very dangerous mixing line of ice and rain. the mix is almost more dangerous than straight snow. >> reporter: the wintry mix has hit new york where the snow is expected to turn to rain before the temperatures go back up into the high 40s. the vast storm left icy texas highways almost abandoned. >> seemed like there's ice, snow and ice again.

>> reporter: it also stranded thousands of the dallas fort worth airport and briefly grounded planes in philadelphia. power outages continued in the south and midwest. and as the next wave of arctic weather pushes down from the north, millions could find themselves facing a treacherous monday morning commute. allison harmelin for cbs news, new york. >> in case you're curious, minnesota saw the coldest temperatures. in some place it is hit 35 degrees below zero. it almost makes it seem like our 30s are down right balmy in comparison to that. back to you. >> 60-degree difference. thanks, jess. >> thank you. the question of the morning time now. it is 4:30 on the nose. according to oceanic and atmospheric administration or noaa, what is the number one- related killer in the united states? >> is it snow, b, floods or c, heat. post